Introduction

There's little doubt that OS X 10.9 Mavericks – of the upcoming OS X 10.10 Yosemite – operating system is a fully-featured platform that allows you to get a lot done, but adding a few extras in the form of utilities can help you get an awful lot more from the platform.

Here are my top six utilities that I have installed on my Macs.

Published: August 6, 2014 -- 10:00 GMT (03:00 PDT)

Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

SnagIt

Apart from the Google Chrome Browser, this is the application I use the most on my Mac. OK, OK, I know that's because I take a barrel-load of screenshots each and every day, and that might not apply to all of you, but if your job involves screenshots, SnagIt is a huge timesaver that streamlines the whole process.

It also makes taking complex screenshots – where perhaps you have to use a timer or scroll down a window – a snap.

I know OS X has built-in screen capture functionality, but I find it a lot more cumbersome to use than SnagIt.

Temperature Gauge Pro

Apple is pretty good at keeping Macs running cool even when they are under heavy loads, but when I'm pushing my hardware I like to keep it a little cooler than the limits Apple's engineers have built into the system.

To do this I use Temperature Gauge Pro. This is a simple utility that sits in the menu bar that not only gives me a complete overview of system temperatures, but also allows me to set temperatures at which the system fans kick into high gear.

OS X Tips: Useful Mac utilities

Improve your OS X experience by augmenting the operating system with a few utilities -- some free, some that will cost you a few dollars, all are excellent.

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Introduction

There's little doubt that OS X 10.9 Mavericks – of the upcoming OS X 10.10 Yosemite – operating system is a fully-featured platform that allows you to get a lot done, but adding a few extras in the form of utilities can help you get an awful lot more from the platform.